Wednesday, June 24, 2015

The State convicted of “gross negligence” after controls facies – The World

The ruling was expected for almost three months and marks a first in France. The Court of Appeal of Paris ordered Wednesday, June 24 the French State for “gross negligence” in five cases of “ethnic profiling” , according to the plaintiffs’ lawyers . The State was ordered by the Court of Appeal of Paris to pay 1,500 euros in damages to the interested parties, said M th Felix de Belloy.

Déboutées first instance in July 2013, thirteen persons reporting discrimination when police checks “racial profiling” had appealed February 25, 2015 to seek redress. All had described abusive controls, sometimes associated with palpation or disrespect as familiarity or familiar brands. For five of them, the court held that those controls were “not justified” that “were well-discriminatory” , according to M th Felix de Belloy

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Aged between 18 and 35, students and employees with no criminal record, they were subject to audits identity repeatedly as they went about ordinary occupations, for example, walking in the street. According to them, these are predominantly would base on criteria “race” .

However, as recalled M th Belloy ” the rule “ means that the identity checks, supervised by Article 78-2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, are motivated by a” behavior that would arouse suspicion “ The other situations -. a requisition of the public prosecutor for a particular offense and controls ” preventive “ if disturbing public order – are supposed to be “exceptions” . “The police, with the consent of the state, not known for twenty years the legal framework in which it is supposed to intervene” , said the lawyer.

Study conducted in 2009 by two researchers from CNRS, cited by the plaintiffs, has established the statistical reality of their experience. The observation of 525 identity checks at different locations in Paris showed that Black and Arabic respectively 6.2 times and 7.7 times more likely to be controlled than White.

“fight against” racial profiling “in identity checks” was one of the 60 commitments of the campaign of Francois Hollande. In this context, Jean-Marc Ayrault, then Prime Minister, had assured that in June 2012 would set up receipts, the police would be obliged to deliver to the people they control the identity. The measure was ultimately abandoned by Manuel Valls, then minister of the interior, from the summer of 2012